Vestibular Rehabilitation (VRT)
Overcome Dizziness, Vertigo or Loss of Balance
We are specialist who can help you retrain your balance system so that you can return to a more active life style...
We will show you how to prevent falling and avoid serious injury...
Ez-rehab one of only a few physical therapy practices that can provide Vestibular rehabilitation treatment in Marin County.
Vestibular Rehabilitation is a therapeutic approach to assist with disequilibrium and dizziness symptoms through the use of physical therapy exercises specially designed to retrain your balance system and help reduce your risk of falls.
Through our programs we will show you how to avoid falls reducing your risk of further medical complications that come from severe falls.
Vestibular Rehabilitation services apply to:
- Anyone who suffers from vertigo, dizziness or a sense of imbalance.
- Anyone who has had a stroke, head injury or concussion, a history of inner ear problems or diabetes
- Anyone who experiences dizziness or balance problems after a neck injury.
- Elderly individuals who are more likely to develop a balance problem due to decreased reaction times and movement speeds, medicines that damage the inner ear and other conditions that affect balance.
- Anyone recovering from an acoustic neuroma.
Benefits of Vestibular Rehabilitation:
- Decreases Vertigo
- Decreases nausea related to abnormal vestibular input
- Improves balance, coordination and awareness
- Decreases nystagmus
- Decreases reports of disequilibrium
- Optimizes visual-vestibular interaction
- Reducing falls or risks for falls
Our Vestibular Therapy Process
We will first perform a thorough evaluation. This includes observing posture, balance, movement, and compensatory strategies.
Using the result of this evaluation, we develop an individualized treatment plan that will include exercises to be performed both in the therapy department and at home and that combine specific head and body movements with eye exercises.
Many times, treatment may also include increasing activities and exercise in order to strengthen muscles and increase tolerance for certain stimuli.
Some of the exercise and activities may at first cause an increase in symptoms, as the body and brain attempt to sort out the new pattern of movements. But with time and consistent work, the coordination signals from the eyes, proprioception, and vestibular system will occur.
Types of Exercises
- Vestibular-Ocular Reflex Stimulation Exercises
- Ocular Motor Exercises
- Balance Training Exercises
- Eye-Head Coordination Exercises
- Postural Exercises
- Gait Exercises
- Increase overall activity level
Most of our exercises are designed to facilitate central nervous system (CNS) compensation rather than altering the underlying vestibular pathology. An exception is the treatment of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) which is aimed at altering the underlying mechanism that produces vertigo and imbalance rather than facilitating CNS adaptation.
If the brain cannot rely on the information it receives from the vestibular system, a person's ability to maintain posture and coordinate balance can become overly dependent on vision or on the information received from the muscles and joints (proprioception).
This can lead to developing new patterns of movement to compensate for the change and to avoid head movements that are apt to create symptoms of dizziness and nausea.
What are the Symptoms of Inner Ear Vestibular Pathology?
- Dizziness/vertigo
- Imbalance/unsteadiness
- Visual motor disturbances/nausea
Because the vestibular system interacts with so many other parts of the nervous system, secondary symptoms of memory problems, muscular stiffness/imbalance/weakness, fatigue, headaches and anxiety may be experienced.
What are some of the Causes of Inner Ear Vertigo and Imbalance?
- Viral/bacterial infections
- Trauma
- Meniere's Disease
- Neuromas
- Ototoxicity
- Vascular ischemia
- Benign positional vertigo
General Information
For more information on the Dizziness, Vertigo and Imbalance check out these reference websites:
- Outline of Causes of Dizziness, Imbalance and Hearing Disorders.
- BENIGN PAROXYSMAL POSITIONAL VERTIGO
- Balance and Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy